McKay School of Education > News > Students Choose Ellie Young as School Psychology Professor of the Year
Students Choose Ellie Young as School Psychology Professor of the Year
Last spring, students graduating in the Education Specialist Program chose Ellie Young as School Psychology Professor of 2009. Both students and faculty alike agree that Young’s exceptional teaching and her many efforts to promote and strengthen the school psychology program at BYU qualify her for this award.
Young has always had a strong interest in psychology; she loves working with people and being a small part of the process of change. Additionally, she developed a respect for the school setting thanks to the influence of her grandmother, a former teacher. Naturally, Young realized early in life that her future was in school psychology.
After receiving undergraduate and specialists’s degrees from BYU, Young spent ten years in Kansas and Missouri as a school psychologist before returning again to school to receive her PhD at the University of South Florida. Having taught at BYU for the past nine years, Young has become a respected and influential faculty member in the McKay School.
One of Young’s defining characteristics is her love for both her field of study and her students. It is easy to see that she holds the students in the highest regard. “They are doing great things,” she says. “I am humbled to be a part of this program with these students.” They likewise think highly of her. “Dr. Young is upbeat, positive, realistic, and fun,” writes Brittany Shilling, a graduate of the licensure program. “She will often invite students to go running with her or sign up for marathons that she runs. We usually have a hard time keeping up with her in a race.”
In the classroom, Young makes it a point to teach content in such a way that students can apply it directly to the school setting. Her goal is to engage the students in learning and replace one-sided lecturing with case studies, integrative class discussions, and group work. Young knows that the true test of her effectiveness as a professor comes “when I see students doing good work for the schools they work in. Then I know we’ve got it.”
Stacie Fraire, another graduate of the program, remembers, “I have always enjoyed her classes. They are geared to give us knowledge and to help us learn how to apply the teachings in her classroom to our profession. This provides us with a great reference point for academic and behavioral assessments in the classroom.”
In addition to teaching, Young has spent a great amount of time and effort in obtaining recognition from the National Association for School Psychologists (NASP) for McKay School’s education specialist licensure program. NASP approval serves as an enormous advantage to graduating students in the program as they seek to obtain national certification as practicing school psychologists.
Young is honored to receive this award from her students. However, she is quick to credit the faculty members she works with for her success. “Since coming here to BYU, they have been examples to me. My peers have taught and continue to teach me. I am better at what I do because of their strength.”
Her coworkers are enthusiastic and supportive. “Ellie Young is a dyed-in-the-wool school psychologist. She loves the profession for what it can do to improve the lives of children in the schools,” says Lane Fischer of the Department of Counseling Psychology and Special Education. “She clearly deserves to be recognized as the School Psychology Professor of the Year in 2009.”
19 October 2009